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Tuesday, March 24, 2015

The
image is from the famous Rorschach test, which is a test administered by
psychiatrists to determine certain characteristics and personality traits of a
patient.There aren’t any “answers”
to the test, but it reveals the way in which people “project” their beliefs
onto the pictures.

Beliefs
are important, because they become the lens through which we see every facet of
life.This morning, as we continue
our series of messages The Journey To
Easter, we come to a passage in John’s gospel that is what I would call a spiritual Rorschach test.It’s a passage where John tells us that
Jesus had performed many miracles but despite the miracles, there were still
some who would not believe in him.John is careful to point out that the people who would not believe in
Jesus did not hear of the miracles by second-hand information; John says those
miracles were performed in their presence, but still they would not believe in
him.How is it that some reacted
to the miracles with belief, while others reacted with non-belief?

The
question of belief is, I think, the great question of life.No one can dodge the question of belief
in God.Everyone is confronted by
that question – to believe or not to believe, and in our modern era, it seems
as though the gulf between belief and non-belief grows ever wider.

Hear the
story as John tells it –

37 Even after Jesus had performed so many
signs in their presence, they still would not believe in him.

38 This was to fulfill the word of Isaiah
the prophet:

“Lord,
who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been
revealed?”

39 For this reason they could not believe,
because, as Isaiah says elsewhere:

40 “He has blinded their eyes and hardened
their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes,nor
understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.”

41 Isaiah said this because he saw Jesus’
glory and spoke about him.

42 Yet at the same time many even among the
leaders believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they would not openly
acknowledge their faith for fear they would be put out of the synagogue;

43 for they loved human praise more than
praise from God.

44 Then Jesus cried out, “Whoever believes
in me does not believe in me only, but in the one who sent me.

45 The one who looks at me is seeing the
one who sent me.

46 I have come into the world as a light,
so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.

47 “If anyone hears my words but does not
keep them, I do not judge that person. For I did not come to judge the world,
but to save the world.

This morning, our topic is To Believe Or Not To Believe, That Is the
Question.As Jesus was drawing
very near to the final days of his ministry, there is this widening gulf
between him and those who would not believe in him, similar to the way in which
today there seems to be a widening gap between belief and unbelief.

In considering this passage today, I want to
ask three questions, the first of which is –

1.Why do we believe what we believe?

I’m a
fan of science fiction.Last fall
I went to see the movie Interstellar,
which looked really interesting to me.I was disappointed in the movie, but it had me thinking for weeks after
about the universe and its unimaginable size and scope.Though I didn’t find the movie to be
very good, it did a good job in presenting the incomprehensible scale of the
universe.In thinking about the
universe, it really puts into perspective how little we know.Though we live in an age of
unbelievable technology and amazing discovery, how much do we know about the
universe and the principles by which it operates?A millionth of a percent?A billionth of a percent?A billion trillion of a millionth of a percent?Whatever we know, it is such an
incredibly small amount of all the knowledge that exists in the universe (and
that may be knowledge only of one universe.There could be other universes of which we have absolutely
no knowledge).As that is true, it
seems incredibly shortsighted, to me, to say there is enough knowledge to
disprove the existence of God, and indeed, to claim that kind of knowledge
seems to me very arrogant.

Why do
we believe what we believe?As
I’ve said before, it is inaccurate to say that seeing is believing; the truth is that believing is seeing.What
we already believe, will determine what we see.If a person holds to a scientific, materialistic,
reductionist view of things, that is, if they believe you can only believe in
what you see, then you won’t believe there is anything beyond the physical,
which would rule out the existence of God.What we believe dictates what we see, and in the view of
scientific materialism, it is a very limited view.

But
faith reorients what we believe so that we are then able to see in a different
manner.As we are in the midst of
March Madness, allow me to use a basketball analogy.How do we know when a referee makes a bad call?I mean, really, how do we know?Is it always obvious?I believe we see the call according to
what we already believe.The truth
is, when a referee makes a call he is viewed as wise and perceptive by half the
crowd and as an incompetent idiot by the other half.And the view that each fan has of the referee’s call is
based upon what they already believe, not the particular actions or ruling of
the referee.The perception of
each fan is colored by their loyalty to a team and whether or not the referee
makes a call that is either for or against their team.Just follow along on Facebook during a
game or sit with a group of fans and you’ll see what I mean.I walked through a hospital waiting
room yesterday during the UK game, just in time to hear the room erupt with
protests of he traveled!In a parallel universe, located in
Cincinnati, I imagine they were saying the complete opposite.This is how we react; we see things a particular way because of
what we believe.

I
appreciate when someone tells me they enjoyed one of my sermons or one of my Sentinel columns, but I also understand
what it often means – it means they agree with what I have to say.“Like” becomes a synonym for “agree,”
and we all want our beliefs to be reinforced.That is one of the reasons we come to church, and it is one
of the primary reasons why people leave church or change churches – because
their beliefs are not given enough affirmation.Jesus certainly did not affirm the beliefs of the religious
establishment, and that is why they decided he must be put to death.

There isn’t anything inherently wrong with wanting our beliefs
affirmed.One of the reasons we
feel uneasy with our rapidly changing world is the fear that our beliefs are
being marginalized in a modern world.We begin to feel out-of-step with things, and that is a difficult place
to live.

But faith reorients our thinking, it moves us beyond the erroneous
beliefs we hold so we will be able to understand truth, which leads to our next
question –

2.What Is Truth?

What is truth?
Pilate asked Jesus.That is an
incredibly important question.Who
determines what is true?

Science claims to tell us what is true about our world and the universe,
but can they really get down to what constitutes truth?I don’t think so.Science can tell us some of the facts
about the way in which our universe operates, at least in our tiny little
corner of the universe.Who knows;
physics may operate differently in another part of the universe, or in another
universe all together.Just
because something is true in our part of creation doesn’t guarantee it is true
in all of creation.

Can science tell us the purpose of creation, and of life?No, because science only deals with
those things we can observe, that we can see and touch and measure. Science can’t get to that purpose, or
discover it, or measure it.That is
the domain of faith.According to
some scientists, the universe is the result of random events, and if that is
true, there is no inherent purpose or meaning.Though one might believe there is a purpose and meaning in a
random universe, there is not.

We are more than flesh and blood creatures; we are the handiwork of
God and possess a soul.You can’t
take a soul and measure it in a test tube in a laboratory.Faith reminds us there is something
greater than what can be learned in a science experiment.

Faith also reminds us that truth is anchored in something that is
eternal and unchanging.If the
universe is random, there are no truths, beyond some basic scientific
facts.The only truths in a random
universe are things such as the speed of light, which may not be constant
everywhere in the unvierse; the amount of time in a day, which can vary as
light is dispersed at greater distances in the universe; so even the constants
of physics and science are not unalterable truths.But faith links us to the eternal – to God – so the truths
of love, compassion, and grace are not true just when a society says they are;
they are always true.

Faith makes the claim that we are anchored in eternal, unchanging
truths, one of which is love.Love
is not the result of a random act of nature, love is a creation of God, which
leads us to our third question –

3.How Can We Know God?

The primary question is, does God exist?In terms of this question, our beliefs don’t matter.That is, God exists whether or not I
believe in him.Reality is
reality; God exists or not independently of our beliefs, although our beliefs
are important because they have consequences.

In terms of evidence, there are several strong evidences, I believe,
for the existence of God, but ultimately I think there is one great proof, and
it is love.If the universe is
random, if there is nothing behind it but happenstance, then love is nothing
more than the firing of neurons in our brain and the release of chemicals that
make us feel good.In that
scenario, love is noting more than a trick of the brain, or a neurological
activity.But does anyone really
believe that is all that constitutes love?No, no even the strongest unbeliever.

Love is something more than just activity in our brains, love is
more than the firing of neurological activity, and more than the release of
brain chemicals; love is the proof that there is something transcendent in life
and about life; it points to something greater and deeper.It points, I believe, to God.

But how do we know the details about God?We are people of revelation, that is, we believe God reveals
truth to us.One of the ways God
reveals truth to us is through Scripture, but if you are speaking with a
skeptic they will most likely reject any argument that is based from
Scripture.Is there, then, a more
effective proof?Yes.Allow me to offer another metaphor,
this time in the form of this novel that I’m holding. Imagine you are one of the characters in
this book.How would you know
anything about the author?How
would you know anything about the world beyond the one that exists in this book?Could you even conceive that an author
exists or have the capacity to comprehend an author or a world outside of the
book?You might think where did I come from?I must have come from somewhere, so
someone put me here.Even
recognizing that, however, the two realms – one within the book and one without
– remain very distant and distinct from one another.But imagine if the author puts himself into the book, into
the story.Literally, into the
story.That is exactly what God
did.In theological terms, we call
it the Incarnation.In everyday
language, we call it Jesus.

The gulf between belief and unbelief may seem to be quite large, and
in one sense, perhaps it is.On
the surface, at least, people believe or they don’t.But we are all God’s children, and God loves each of his
children – believers or not – and if he does, then so must we.If God entered into this world, into
the story of his own creation, to demonstrate his live, then so must we enter
the story of the lives of others.

Monday, March 16, 2015

Last week we began a
new series of messages, The Journey to
Easter.This week we’re
turning to John’s gospel, to a chapter that contains one of the most well-known
events from the ministry of Jesus – the raising of Lazarus.While that event is incredibly
important, there is another, often-overlooked event that takes place early in
chapter 11, and it concerns the disciple Thomas.Listen to what John records in that passage –

1 Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was
from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.

2 (This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now
lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet
with her hair.)

3 So the sisters sent word to Jesus,
“Lord, the one you love is sick.”

4 When he heard this, Jesus said, “This
sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may
be glorified through it.”

5 Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister
and Lazarus.

6 So when he heard that Lazarus was sick,
he stayed where he was two more days,

7 and then he said to his disciples, “Let
us go back to Judea.”

8 “But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while
ago the Jews there tried to stone you, and yet you are going back?”

9 Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve
hours of daylight? Anyone who walks in the daytime will not stumble, for they
see by this world’s light.

10 It is when a person walks at night that
they stumble, for they have no light.”

11 After he had said this, he went on to
tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake
him up.”

12 His disciples replied, “Lord, if he
sleeps, he will get better.” 13 Jesus
had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural
sleep.

14 So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus
is dead,

15 and for your sake I am glad I was not
there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

16 Then Thomas (also known as Didymus) said
to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Did you catch the final verse, verse 16?Listen again to those
words – Then Thomas (also known as
Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die
with him.”

We
are talking today about defining moments.

Never define yourself – or
someone else – by failure.

In one of my previous churches, one of our youth group members was a
very good basketball player.In
his senior year his school was playing in the final of the regional
championship, with the winning team advancing to the state tournament.There were two or three seconds left on
the clock and his team was trailing by a single point, and he stepped to the
free throw line with two shots.It
was a classic set up, and I’m sure he felt quite a bit of pressure.Make a single shot and they would go to
overtime; make both shots and he would be the hero who sent them on to the
state tournament.The first shot
clanged off the rim, but there was still a chance to tie the game.He took his time before taking the
second shot, working, I imagine, to shut out the noise of the fans and to calm
himself.He bounced the ball a few
times, spun it around in his hands, and took the shot.Once again, the shot clanged off the
rim and fell short.I can still
remember watching him fall to the floor with a look of agony on his face.I imagine there are people who still
remind him of that game, and any time he goes to a class reunion it may be
discussed.Though he went to
college on a basketball scholarship and spent years coaching, it’s still a
moment that probably stays in his mind.

As John opens chapter 11 of his gospel, Jesus
had begun his journey to Jerusalem and to the final stage of his ministry.As Jesus and his disciples drew near to
Jerusalem, they stopped in the village of Bethany, only two miles away from the
great city.Bethany was the home
of Mary and Martha, and their brother Lazarus, who had died.We are very familiar with the fact that
Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead, but many are not as familiar with the
context.

When Jesus announced
that he would travel to Bethany, there was a palpable sense of alarm among his
disciples.Being so close to
Jerusalem, they feared, would place them in danger.They reminded Jesus that it was only a short time before
that an attempt had been made upon his life in that region, so they were
astounded that he would want to return.

But Thomas stood apart from the others in terms
of his response.While the other
disciples expressed fear and counseled for caution, Thomas speaks up and
declares let us also go, that we may die
with him.Curiously, John does
not describe the response of the other disciples, but in the very next verse
Jesus and his disciples have arrived in Bethany.

How many of you know about Thomas’ moment of doubt?All of us, I assume, know the story of
Thomas, after the resurrection, declaring that unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the
nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it (John
20:25), but how many are familiar with this moment when Thomas said let us also go, that we may die with him?

Here’s a question worth some serious thought – why is it that Thomas
is remembered for his moment of doubt, but not his moment of courage and
commitment?For centuries, the
defining moment in the life of Thomas has been labeled as his expression of
doubt, but I believe this verse tells us of a true defining moment in his
life.It’s a very
telling view into humanity that Thomas would be defined by his moment of doubt
rather than his moment of courage.

Never define your life – or the life of another
– by a failure.Jesus
doesn’t.Where others saw a
corrupt tax collector in Matthew, Jesus saw one who could be counted among his
closest followers (Luke 5:27-32).People looked upon another tax collector – Zaccheus – as one who
defrauded others, but Jesus saw something different (Luke 19:1-10).When Mary annointed Jesus shortly
before the crucifixion some saw it as a wasteful act and criticized her, but
Jesus saw it as an act of love and said that wherever the gospel is preached in the whole world, that also which
this woman has done shall be spoken of in memory of her (Mark 14:9).

People will seek to limit you and diminish you
by making a failure the defining point of our life – don’t allow them to do
so!Jesus won’t do that, so why
allow anyone else?

Challenge one another.

Does anyone like to work out alone?Aren’t some exercise machines
awful?But aren’t you glad to
share the pain and misery?Some
things are better when other people are involved.If you go to the Family Activity Center to exercise you have
discovered you do better working out when others are around, don’t you?I used to run in a lot of 5K and 10K
races, and to keep motivated I ran with a friend, and it pushed me to try
harder.

It’s great to have people who will be encouragers
to us, but sometimes we need a challenge as well, don’t we?Sometimes we need that encouraging
word, telling us we’re going to be okay, but other times we need someone to
give us a challenge and say pull yourself
together!Get out of the chair and
go and do something for someone else!You have a lot to offer; go and offer it!You’re blessed; go and be a blessing!

I love the boldness of Thomas in verse 16.Notice that he didn’t say I’m going with Jesus and I’m willing to die
with him.You all do whatever you
want, but I’m going.No, he
says, Let us also go, that we
may die with him.Nice of
Thomas to volunteer the lives of the others, wasn’t it?The others could have responded to
Thomas by asking who are you to speak for
us and who are you to volunteer our lives?But they didn’t, because the next verse finds them in
Bethany with Jesus and then on to Jerusalem as well.Sometimes a situation needs that one person who will speak
up and challenge others, as Thomas did.

Sometimes we need an encouraging word, but
other times we next a push and a challenge.I love this church and I’m grateful to be here.I think we are doing a lot of good work
and good ministry, and I will offer encouraging words for doing so well,
especially because I know so many people are stretching themselves and working
so hard.But there are times when
we might say that’s good enough.That’s adequate.Sometimes we need to lay down a
challenge to one another.

What will be your defining moment?

The defining moment for Thomas’ life, I would
argue, is not when he expressed doubt, but when he expressed his courage, so the next time you are tempted to refer to doubting Thomas – don’t!Call him brave Thomas or courageous
Thomas – anything but doubting Thomas!

What will be the defining moment of your life?Will it be a failure that someone wants
to pin to you forever?Or will it
be the moment you realized that God does not define you by your failure but by
your possibility?

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

As we
are fast-approaching Easter, I will be focusing on the theme of The Journey to Easter for the next five
Sundays.Each week we will study
some of the events that take place as Jesus draws close to Jerusalem, the crucifixion,
and the resurrection.Some of them
will be very familiar, and some, perhaps, less so.

This
week’s Scripture passage is probably not one we generally associate with the
Easter story, but itis an important preface to the
final stage of the ministry of Jesus, and before this passage we see where he
was butting heads with the religious leaders.This is what we might call the “fine print” of Jesus’
teaching, and it is very important fine print.

25 Large crowds were traveling with Jesus,
and turning to them he said:

26 “If anyone comes to me and does not hate
father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own
life—such a person cannot be my disciple.

27 And whoever does not carry their cross
and follow me cannot be my disciple.

28 “Suppose one of you wants to build a
tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough
money to complete it?

29 For if you lay the foundation and are
not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you,

30 saying, ‘This person began to build and
wasn’t able to finish.’

31 “Or suppose a king is about to go to war
against another king. Won’t he first sit down and consider whether he is able
with ten thousand men to oppose the one coming against him with twenty
thousand?

32 If he is not able, he will send a
delegation while the other is still a long way off and will ask for terms of
peace.

33 In the same way, those of you who do not
give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.

34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its
saltiness, how can it be made salty again?

35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for
the manure pile; it is thrown out.“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”

Do we have any “fine
print” readers here this morning? We’ve all received mailings that promise great deals,
espcially at Christmas, where a flyer might advertise a computer or large
screen TV for an outrageously low price, but in the fine print it will say only one per store, or includes no monitor, hard drive, software or
anything you actually need to make a computer work.I especially like the car commercials,
that advertise a car for $99 a month and no money down.But the announcer at the end goes
through the disclaimers so fast that you can’t hear them say, offer applies only to people who are filthy
rich and make a down payment of $30,000.

Have you ever read the
fine print in a privacy policy?You
haven’t, have you?When you set up
your accounts online you just click “Accept” without actually reading all that
legal-ese langauge, and when they come in the mail you probably toss them
straight into the trash.

Our Scripture passage for this morning is one
we might call the fine print of the
gospel.It’s very easy to focus on the Scriptural
passages of comfort, encouragement, and beauty.This is not one of those passages.It is a tough and difficult passage, reminding us that life
– and faith – can be very difficult.Jesus was never one to underestimate either the difficulty of life or
the difficulty of faith. At this
point in his ministry Jesus was drawing large crowds, and he seems to come to a
point where he wants people to understand that there is an element of faith
that is very challenging.In these verses he is careful to present the plain truth to his
followers.Truth is not always
easy to hear, but we can be grateful that Jesus did not “sugar coat” the facts
about life and faith.

Jesus is talking about building a
life of faith that will stand the test of time and the test of any challenge,
so how does a person build the kind of faith to last, and to
stand the test of time?

By Building a Strong Foundation.

In front of our house, on our small farm, was a field extending a
couple hundred yards to the road.About half the length of that field, just on the other side of the
property line, was the foundation of a never-completed house.As kids, we liked to play around that
foundation, which had the block walls in place and the openings for doors and
windows.It was a great fort for
our pretend adventures.The
foundation, obviously, had been there a long time, as there were trees growing
in the middle of it and also out of the mounds of dirt that had long ago been
piled up in order to level the ground.Many times over the years I wondered about that foundation.Why was it never completed?Did they run out of money?Did they move?No one in our neighborhood that I asked
seemed to have any idea.It was a
visible reminder of the words of Jesus, that anyone building a tower must first
calculate the cost so they can determine whether or not they have the finances
to complete the project.

Building a foundation of faith is a lot like building a house. You have to have a good foundation if it
is going to last across the years.Building that foundation takes work, it takes sweat and effort.It is much more than just memorizing a
few rules and regulations that allow a person to give a “correct” theological
answer.If you can’t build an
adequate foundation, it is impossible to build a strong building.

I believe there should be disclaimers on some things, such as a
marriage certificate, saying sometimes things will be difficult.There should be a disclaimer on faith
as well.Perhaps that is what
Jesus does in this passage – he is providing a disclaimer.He is saying it will be difficult to
follow him.He certainly could
have added that it can be dangerous to be his follower as well.Reading through the book of Acts we
certainly see the danger that befell the apostles.Every one of the twelve, with the exception of John, was
martyred for their faith.Reading
through the book of Acts things become dangerous for the church in
general.We read of the apostles
being imprisoned, and of the first Christian martyr of record, Stephen.As we progress through the book of Acts
we read of the looming trial of Paul, in Rome, where he was eventually martyred
for his faith.The early centuries
of the church is filled with periods of persecution of the followers of
Jesus.It continues today.In parts of our world it remains very
dangerous to be a follower of Jesus, and some estimate that more people are
martyred for their faith in the 21st century than any other period
in the history of the church.China, where the church is booming, is cracking down in increasingly
harsh ways as a way to inhibit the growth of the church.The government of China – officially
atheistic – has tried to stop the church but is unable to do so.In about twenty years China will have
more Christians than any other country, in spite of persecution.The followers of Jesus in such areas
are well aware of the dangers of being a follower of Jesus.We are blessed – so blessed – that we
are not persecuted for our faith.I know that some people say Christians are persecuted in our country but
we have no idea what persecution really looks like, certainly when compared to
the parts of our world where being a follower of Jesus can put one at risk of
death.

Jesus wanted people to carefully consider the implications of faith
to their lives, and what it meant to follow him.What would they do when they discovered it might bring
difficulty upon them?What would
they do when they discovered he was not interested in becoming a political
messiah?What would they do when
they discovered they would not receive everything they wanted and their lives
are not magically made simpler and easier?

This is similar to the 3rd or 4th date, when
people begin to consider is this “the”
person?Can I spend my life with
them?Can I pledge my life to this
person?Or is it merely
infatuation.Love and infatuation
are very different.There were
probably some people who were merely infatuated with Jesus.

Be Remaining Faithful, Even When Life and Faith Are Tough.

My MacBook is now six years old.Last fall, I went into the Apple store to ask a question
about fixing a problem and they referred to it as “vintage.”Vintage?At the time it was less than six years old, so what does
that make me?Ancient?I don’t mean to pick on a business, but
Apple is the world’s most valuable company and they will certainly not be
harmed by my critique.I don’t
like dealing with their stores.When I walk into an Apple store to ask for help, they imply that I’m
old.I asked them a very basic
question, looking to fix something, and they kept telling me that I should just
bring my computer in for them to take a look.I finally realized they were implying that I was too old to
understand how to fix it myself.

But here is the reality – companies don’t want their products to
last very long.Are you familiar
with the concept of “planned obsolescence”? Planned obsolescence is the idea
that manufacturers “plan” for their products to last for a shorter period of
time so they can sell more products.Imagine a care that lasts fifty years, an appliance that lasts sixty
years, and clothing that not only lasted, but stayed in style, for several
generations.If products last a
long time, sales decline.When
Tanya and I married, her parents gave us a washer and dryer set, and they
lasted almost twenty-five years.The next set lasted only five or six.Our third set, that we just purchased, will hopefully last
longer.

We live in an era of disposability and impermanence, and in a
disposable, impermanent society, everything is in danger of becoming merely
temporary and disposable. The
question that lurks behind this passage, does anything last?And, sadly, we learn by experience that
not everything does last, and I’m not talking about products, but much deeper
and more important things, such as relationships.Even love, sadly, can become temporary.Not every relationship survives.Not every friendship survives.Not every marriage survives.Not every person’s faith survives.

What lasts?Jesus talks
about building a faith that lasts, and moving beyond the temporariness of so
much of life.There are,
certainly, a lot of fads that capture our imagination, and these influence our
attitudes just the same as so many of the other temporary and impermanent
things of life.If you are around
my age, you may remember “Pet Rocks.”Where else, but in American, can someone get rich by selling us what we
can pick up for free in our backyards.But even in the spiritual realm we can get caught up in fads.Remember the WWJD bracelets from not
too many years ago?It was quite a
big fad.What Would Jesus Do?Well, for starters, he probably
wouldn’t get caught up in a fad.

Build a strong spiritual foundation
to your life.

Embrace Love.

In this passage, Jesus is not telling us we need to hate our
families.Those first verses can
be a bit of a jolt, because the language sounds so strong – If anyone comes to me and does not hate
father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own
life—such a person cannot be my disciple – that they are sometimes
misunderstood.The language Jesus
uses in those verses is his way of framing the deepest kind of love we can
imagine.It is the deepest,
greatest love of all – the love we call agape,
which is the divine love of God.This is the love to which we aspire, and compared to the often
stumbling, limited human love, the love of God, by way of comparison, makes all
other loves seem very slight indeed.It is a divine love that lifts us above the pettiness, the conflicts,
and the struggles of life.It is a
love that allows us to love the unlovable and forgive the unforgiveable.It is the love that enables someone to
sacrifice for another – even to the point of laying down their life, as did
Jesus.It is extremely challenging,
yes, but this is the love to which we are called.

When I was in college, a friend of mine spent a summer working in
Eastern Europe.This was the late
70s, when the Soviet Union still dominated that part of the world and the
Berlin Wall divided Germany.He worked
with some house churches that met in secret because of the persecution in that
part of the world.When he returned
to school in the fall he told us some amazing stories.One story was about a young man who
wanted to join a church.The
church met in the attic of a home, and worshipped in secret.On an evening when my friend met with
them, the young man expressed his desire to live a life of faith and to join
their small fellowship.What do we
do when someone wants to make a profession of faith and join a church?We gladly receive them and celebrate
their decision.My friend told us
of how this group responded, which was very different from our experience.Instead of receiving him with joy and
celebrating his decision, they placed him in the midst of their small circle
and asked if he was sure that he wanted to take such a step.Did he understand that he might lose
his job because of his decision?Did he understand that his family might turn their backs on him?It was as if they were trying to talk
him out of his decision.But this
was a group that could understand the words of Jesus in today’s passage.They had not only read the small print;
they understood the reality of the small print.

Don’t ever underestimate the reality of hatred and evil in this
world.We hear of it ever day and
sometimes we experience it.Hatred
and evil has, and always will, push back against love, especially God’s love.It is not always easy to be a follower
of Jesus, and in some parts of our world, it is difficult and very
dangerous.We must pray for our
brothers and sisters who live in such difficult circumstances, and we must be
certain and build a foundation for our faith that will see us through until the
end.